Our culture is fixated on the intellect and stamina of the youth : the bright young things. BYTs are everywhere: setting records, sewing clothing and tattooing their names into the flesh of their elders (this is not a metaphor, this is an allusion to the 3 year old tat-artist Ruby Dickinson pictured at work above). Today it appears to be culturally acceptable and even praised for tweens to chase ambitions on a grand scale. Is this a new form of "cradle robbing?" As in: instead of marrying young executives are hiring young, really young. It is now common for a child navigate a shark-eat-shark tank while chasing dreams.
For BYTs with one foot in the business world and the other on the playground it is the ultimate sink or swim situation. Cecilia Cassini knows how to straddle these worlds: at 10 she has designed her own tween fashion line. Cecilia started sewing at age 6 and now is making a name for herself in a larger pond. Recently, celebrities started buying her outfits for their kids!
Besides immense unspoken pressure inherently present in this stories, there is a potential for immense growth and increased freedom of expression. Generations of young adults are getting encouraged to, say, fly a plane across the USA (this is a nod to Kim Anyadike the 15-year-old who navigated a single-engine Cessna across the seven seas). Some might question how parents could let her take off with the thundering risks. These days, parents are ready to see kids soar and seem to respect the laws of gravity: the higher you climb the sky the harder your fall will be. I guess the only issue both the supporters and booers of BYTs agree on is how do you explain adult sized failure to a pint-sized contestant?
In India the fact that: "toddlers as young as 19 months are able to distinguish jokes from mistakes" spurred the creation of a TV show that has child stand-up comedians compete for celeb-status.
As soon as BYTs enter a commerical enterprise I become spektical. For example, a new young fashion blogger debuted at New York Fashion week-- meet Katie (pictured above). Katie seemed to be a social commentary, rather than be capable of dechipering the underlying ones in designers collections. Racked National Magazine went on a recruiting mission to discover five year-old Katie who attended shows that most fashionistas triple her age would kill to see. Katie explained to Racked how she analyzes the shows: "For me, it's really all about Love, Hate, or Like" Is simple the new black? Or is this a disgusting capitalization on the BYT trend? Judging by Katie's notes ...
it is hard to decipher much of anything! As an endnote: if you are thinking about getting inked consider calling Ruby, the world's youngest tattoo artist and then call me to tell me if the job is a permanent version of fellow BYT blogger Katie's notes! All I can think about is that most toys appropriate for this age-group warn parents to keep all sharp edges far from her tiny finger pads; meanwhile Ruby spends her pre- and post-nap time gripping a needle-tipped pen. She is, among other things, a rarity!
